The Reverend Dr. Alan Deale—distinguished preacher, church builder, strong institutionalist, social justice activist, and fighter for death with dignity—died on 29 January 2018, aged 90.

A veteran of the 1965 Selma Marches, Alan Deale was also instrumental in the Oregon Right to Die Society, whose success in reforming the state’s laws carried a personal meaning for him when he was able to help both his second and third wives, the Rev. Marguerite Hessler-Deale and Dr. Leola Lorenzen, fulfill their wishes to die at home.

Alan Glengyle Deale was born on 7 August 1927 in Hanover, New Hampshire, to the Rev. Jessie Deale and the Rev. D. G. Deale. Serving in both the U.S. Navy and Air Force (1945–50), Alan earned a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire in 1950, followed by an S.T.B and S.T.M. from Harvard Divinity School in 1953 and 1954. He served a brief ministry at First Parish Unitarian of Hubbardston, MA, where he was ordained on 29 May 1953, with Frederick May Eliot preaching. His parents, both ministers themselves, also participated in the service. Leaving the Hubbardston church in 1954, he spent a year of study at Oxford.

Back in the U.S., the Rev’d Mr. Deale accepted calls to the UU Society of Fairhaven, MA (1953–58), the UU Church in Rockford, IL (1958–70), and the First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR (1970–91), the latter naming him minister emeritus. The Rockford congregation remembers his “pithy, lively sense of humor which raised a few hackles…balanced by a capacity for compassion for the human condition.” In 1979 he received a D.D. honoris causa from Meadville Lombard Theological School.

At his death, Alan was survived by his wife Kathleen Hunter, three children, three stepchildren, and nine grandchildren. A memorial service was held on 24 February 2018 at the UU Church in Rockford, IL, and a month later at the Portland UU Church on 24 March.